News From Room 207: Week of September 5, 2011 News and Announcements

News From Room 207
Week of September 5, 2011

Important Dates To Remember
9/5 No school Monday
News and Announcements

Welcome Fabulous Fourth Grade Families, I hope you are enjoying your long weekend. We had a wonderful first week getting to know each other and our classroom. We will continue over the next several weeks establishing a safe, challenging learning environment as we build our classroom community and daily routines. We will begin projects using our summer reading books this week. If your child has not turned in their completed summer reading form, they should do so on Tuesday morning. If you have the book at home, please send it in. There is no need to purchase the book though if you currently do not have it at home. We have several extra copies of each book at school. Additionally, please be sure to send in a healthy snack daily. All snacks must be peanut-free. We will have a morning snack and recess daily from 10:45-11:00am. I send home a weekly newsletter telling you about our week and upcoming events. Our newsletter will typically be emailed home by Monday mornings. If you would prefer a hard copy, please let me know and I am happy to send one home in your childs Monday folder. I enjoyed meeting many of you at Dean Park and I am looking forward to seeing you at Curriculum Night when I will go into further detail about our fourth grade year. We will begin in our classroom, room 207 at 6:30pm. At 7:15pm, you will be invited to join Mr. Mabie in the cafeteria for additional information. The evening will be completed by 7:30pm. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. The best way to contact me is by using my school e-mail address at stravers@shrewsbury.k12.ma.us. You should also feel free to send in a note to school. I am looking forward to a wonderful year! Warmly, Sandra Travers
9/27 Tuesday Curriculum Night 6:30pm 10/10 No School Columbus Day Monday
11/1 Tuesday No School Parent Conferences 11/11 No School Veterans Day Thursday
11/23-25 Thanksgiving Break 12/24-1/1 December Break
Thank you for your generous donations of classroom supplies.
News From Room 207

Week of September 5, 2011
Quote of the Week fun, and LA skills. We will also focus on summer reading projects. Math Unit 1 focuses on Geometry. Be sure to have your child explore the www.aaamath.com website as time allows. Please practice your addition/subtraction facts nightly. We will be completing weekly mad minutes to check our progress. Read Aloud One day at the library, a book falls off the self and hits Milo in the head. Its called Be A Perfect Person in 3 Days. In the book, Dr. Pinkerton Silverfish doesnt look so perfect but Milo decides to give it a try. Perfect is obviously the perfect way to be or is it? Social Studies I am very excited about working with your children this year as we adventure across the North American continent. This introductory week will focus on different types of maps, the continents, oceans, and hemispheres. Science We will begin our unit on Earth Materials this week as we investigate the properties of Mock rocks. I am looking forward to exploring Earth Materials, Simple Machines and Magnets &Electricity with your children this year.
Stay engaged to move forward!

Specials Monday-Music Tuesday-PE Wednesday-Art Thursday-Health Friday-Chorus Media (every other week) Snack/Recess daily at ~10:45am Lunch 12:05-12:40pm August/September Birthdays August th 12 Gregory th 28 Annabelle September th 16 Sasha
English Language Arts (ELA) We will begin this week, combining the study of engineering, technology and language arts with the story Yi Mins Great Wall. The children will discuss what technology is and what engineers do. Your children will build their own walls with a mortar mixture. The walls will have to survive a softball roll! This contentconnected project will provide the class with cooperative learning time,
News From Room 207

The following is a Reading Rockets article with practical tips for helping your child to better comprehend what they are reading. The article can be accessed at http://www.pbs.org/launchingreaders/parenttips_5.html.
Read about it, talk about it, and think about it!
Find ways for your child to build understanding, the ultimate goal of learning how to read.
Make books special.

Turn books and reading into something special by taking your kids to the library, helping them get their own library card, reading with them, and buying them books as gifts. Have a favorite place for books in your home, or even better, put books everywhere.
Get them to read another one.

Find ways to encourage your child to keep picking up another book. You could, for example, introduce him or her to a book series like The Boxcar Children or Harry Potter or to a second book by a favorite author. Ask teachers, librarians, and others for recommendations that match your child's interests and reading level, or look for suggestions on www.readingrockets.org. You could even buy a subscription in your child's name to a magazine that comes regularly in the mail.
"Are we there yet?"
Use the time spent in the car or bus for wordplay. You can talk about how jam means something you put on toast as well as cars stuck in traffic. How many other homonyms can your child think of? When kids are highly familiar with the meaning of a word, they have less difficulty reading it.
Crack open the dictionary.

Let your child see you using a dictionary. Say something like, "Hmm, I'm not sure what that word means... I think I'll look it up."
First drafts are rough.

Give your child encouragement when he or she is doing homework or a writing assignment. Remind your child that writing involves several steps like planning, composing an initial draft, revising, and final editing. No one does it perfectly the first time.
Different strokes for different folks.

Read different types of books to expose your child to different types of writing. Stories, for example, are often organized around characters, a setting, and a plot, while nonfiction books are usually organized around main ideas followed by details. Some kids, especially boys, prefer nonfiction books.
News From Room 207

September 6, 2010
Talk about what you see and do.

Talking about everyday activities helps build your child's background knowledge, which is crucial to listening and reading comprehension. Keep up a running patter, for example, while cooking together; take your child someplace new and talk about what you see; or discuss the movie or television show you've just watched together.
Teach your child some "mind tricks."

You can give your child tips for figuring out the meaning of what he or she reads. Show your child how to summarize a story in a few sentences, for example, or how to make predictions about what might happen next. Both strategies help a child comprehend and remember. After reading a story together, think out loud so your child can see how you summarize and predict. Say something like, "I bet D.W. would have eaten some more if she hadn't known that it was spinach."

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News From Room 207

Week of September 5, 2011

News and Announcements

11/23-25 Thanksgiving Break 12/24-1/1 December Break

Thank you for your generous donations of classroom supplies.